Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1887-06-17
a Terrible Execution.

!
A Terrible Execution.
Bishop Taylor, now stationed in Africa,
writes letter to the Baltimore american
from st. Paul dc Loando, under date of
March Il: a few miles out of Lukunea the
Bishop witnessed one of the strangest occur
rences that had yet transpired in his pres
ence in Africa AS he and his party we're
descending mountain they SAW that there
was Z village below them, Il market place
| surrounded with large number OF houses.
1t seemed as if all the village people and
many others from the surrounding country
had gathered in the market place. The
Bishops first impression was that some
kind of fair or general trading was in pro
gress, but as he came nearer he saw the
event was not commercial. From his ele
waited port of view he could see that sew
eral natives we're at work digging holes in
the centre of the market place. The atten
tion of the crowd seemed to be divided be-
tween the hole and something else that
neither the Bishop nor his companions
could distinguish. The native carriers said
that it looked as if there was to be public
| execution, whereupon one Of the Bishops
party tried to see the gallows, but failed An
execution it proved to be, however, but
without q scanold The native Africans
have much more horrible form of judicial
murder than hanging. The Bishop and his
party arrived st the market place just as
The tragedy was consummated. They
! learned the story OF the crime that led to it,
which briefly was the following:
Two or three weeks before the the Bish.
ops arrival, man had died in the village,
and, as is frequently the case, the medicine
man had been summoned to declare what,
oc rather who had been the cause of it. The
doctor, after the usual demonstrations,
oracular utterances, frenzied dancing, and
| other tomfoolery, had fixed tha responsible
| ty for the death upon captain OF the tribe.
! The truth undoubtedly was that this cap
tain had done something to offend the doc
| tor, who took this way of getting even.
| The captain was brought before the king,
and charged with the crime Of bewtchiDg
the deceased. He denied the charge, and
was then ordered TO drink cup of kind of
tea made from the sasswood tree. 1t is q
deadly poisonous mixture. The medicine
man tells the king that If man who is
guilty drinks Of it, be will die; but an inno-
cent man will not be harmed. Whoever
1
! ole agony, and the prestige of the doctor is
heightened accordingly. The captain in
| this instance refused 10 drink the tea He
was sent away from the Kings presence for
| q day or two, pending further considera-
! ton of the case, but that very night
he was shot by an unknown man in his
house After six days of suffering
the captain died. His friends besought the
representative of the Free State government
to interfere, but he hesitated. He was
new to his position, and dared not
! take very decided measures. So the king Of
the tribe bestirred himself. The dead cap.
tain had been q favorite Of his, and the &C.
cusaton OF the doctor had disturbed his
majesty Now that the captain had been
murdered he determined to punish the
criminal. ! man was arrested and tried for
! the crime and found guilty. He was, Of
course, condemned to death. When the
| Bishop arrived the hole in the market place
had been completed. 1t was somewhat
| larger and deeper than an ordinary grave
! The object that had attracted the attention
! of part OF the crowd was The condemned
| man himself. He sat on the ground with
| his hands tied behind his back. Seven feet
| in front of him was young tree that had
been bent over toward him. The top of the
tree had been cut away, 80 that fork made
! by the TWO main branches remained on the
! slender trunk The condemned an'sneck
was put in this fork and the ends OF the lines
were made fast behind his head. The ten.
sion Of the tree kept q constant strain on his
throat not enough TO strangle him, but
enough to be painful, and 10 prevent him
from making any motion. He had been sit
| ting thus for hours watching the preparations
for his execution, and enduring the~gaze of
hundreds of the villagers. Nor far away the
king, dressed in q gorgeously colored robe,
sat experimenting the operations. The
work progressed in due order, but without
the ceremonious solemnity that characterizes
an execution III Christian countries. The
king gave his instructions, whom he chose
| to interfere, to o subordinate, who trans
ferred them to the captain in charge of the
climbed ont and laid aside their shovels,
there was slight pause. and the crowd
gathered closer to the excavation. Present.
| " the king uttered command in loud
voice. and several subordinates actually
began the work of execution. They first
cut off the tree in front of the captives neck,
! leaving the prongs Of the fork still tied
about him. He was led to the hole and or
! dered into it. Up to this time he had pre-
served stoical expression, but at that mo-
ment he weakened and trembied. He cast
piteous glance towards the king, and look
ed all around him wildly. One of the ex-
ecutioners hestened matters by pushing
him into the hole. He fell in heap on the
! bottom, and three men went in after him.
They placed him on his feet, and while one
held him steady, the others began TO pack
| dirt about his feet The workmen left on
the brink of the hole carefully shoveled the
earth that had been dug up, back again,
and the mon inside continued the packing